Method of forming boots and shoes



(NoM odL) J. A. AMBLER.

Method of Forming Boots and Shoes@ No. 239,304. Patenfed March 29,1881.

I E -F GRm M w m W N. PETERS. PHOTO LITHOGRAPHER, WASHMGTON. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICEe JAMES A. AMBLER, OF NATIOK, MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD OF FORMINGBOCTS AND SHOES.

SPECIFIGATIONforming part of Letters Patent N0. 239,304, dated. March29, 1881.

i I Application filed February 5, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. AMBLER, of Natick, county of Middlesex,State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods ofForming Boots andShoes, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved method of closing the seams ofboots and shoes and other tubular articles, whereby the edges of thematerial and the final closing-seams which unite the said edges may beformed within the boot-leg or tubular article, to thus avoid subsequentturning, as now practiced, to conceal the said edges and seams.

In the manufacture of boot-legs, one of the articles in connection withwhich this my method is of especial value, it has been customary toclose the side seams thereof with the front and back wrong side out,after which the boot-leg has been turned, at considerable expense, tobring the edges and scams within the bootleg. In the usual process theblack faces of the front and back are placed together, the-crimped frontbeing then opened and somewhat fiattened. Turning the closed leg insideout to bring the black side of theleather outside necessitates foldingthe front at right angles to the it ngth of the crease or crimp put intoit on the crimping-form, the said fold rolling, as it were, from end toend of the boot-leg, which action takes out a great part of the crimpgiven to the front on the crimping-form. The side seams of shoes aremade in like manner, and also hydraulic hose.

. In this my invention, if, for instance, it is desired to form aboot-leg, one of the side seams of the crimped front and back will firstbe closed in the usual manner, while the outer or black faces of thematerial are in contact? This done the front and back are folded over inthe opposite direction far enough to place the inner faces of the frontand back together, after which the free edges of the front and back areturned in toward the center of the; leg until the outer or black facesof the said edges touch together or rest upon the upper and a lowersides of a welt, if one is used, as is preferred, and then the stitchesto close the said second seam and form the boot-leginto a tube are.sewed through the said edges, or edges and welt, thus turned into thetubular or cylindricalpart of the boot-leg, as willbe hereinafterdescribedf By my process the front, once brought into the desired formby crimping and set, is not changed in shape, and the crimp once set ismaintained in the front, instead of being partially lost by turning, andthe front is left in the best possible shape for lasting.

Figure 1 represents, in cross-section, a bootlegit as will appear withits first side seam sewed, the dotted lines showing the front and backfolded over or turned back preparatory to having the second side seamclosed. Fig. 2 is a similar section, showing the position of the frontand back while the second side seam is being sewed; and Fig. 3 is a sideelevation of a boot-leg, the front being crimped.

In the drawings, a is intended to represent a crimped boot-front, and bthe back thereof, the heavier black lines representing the outer orblack faces of the leather, and the thinner lines the inner orlight-colored faces.

To form the first of the side seams of, say, a boot-leg, the black facesof the front and back will be placed together, as in full lines, Fig. 1,with preferably a welt, 0, between them near their side edges, and thesame will be stitched together by a line of stitches, d, all as usual.The first seam to close one side of the leg having been made, the frontand back will be folded over or reversed, as in dotted lines, Fig.1, andbrought to the position, Fig. 2, where the free edges of the front andback are turned in far enough to bring their outer or black facestogether or against a second welt-strip, 6, when the second side seam isclosed by the stitches f, made through the said edges and welt, leavingthe united edges 2 3 of the'bofot-leg within the tubular part thereof.This method avoids turning the boot-leg inside out, as heretoforenecessary, after the last seam constitutingthe tubular part or boot-legwas finished with the edges of the material and stitches outside.

In Fig. 3 the full line of the front shows the outline given to it bythe usual crimping-form, and by closing the final or last .seam, whichmakes the boot-leg into a tube fromthe inside of the leg with the blackside of the leather outward, I avoid any serious disturbance of thecrimped edge, such as would happen by turn- -ing the leg inside outafter its side seams were closed. The dotted lines, Fig. 3, are intendedto show about the quantity of crimp st in'returning a boot-leg afterfully closing it, the turned boot-leg losing the exact shape it hadgiven to it by the form, or the shape it had before it was turned.

To enable me to form the second scam in the most expeditious manner, Ihave, in connect ion with A. O. and G. A. Ambler, invented asewing-machine containing a horn or arm-like part, about which theboot-leg is folded, as will be described in the application to be filedfor a patent for the said sewing-machine, the said horn or armcontaining a hooked needle castoff, and thread-guide, to makeautomatically the-line of stitchesf.

The seams of shoes, hose, and other tubular articles wherein the seamsare to project inside, may be made in the manner herein described, and Ido not desire to confine my claim to bootlegs, but desire by my methodto unite other tubular articles which are difficult to turn right sideout after having been fully closed wrong sidefiout.

Referring to Fig. 2, the material of the back and front next the line ofstitching df will be flattened down, rubbed, and finished in any usualway, so that the inwardly-turned edges of the material will not chafethe leg.

of closing that side or longitudinal seam of an article to bring it intoand complete its tnbular form to avoid subsequent turning thereof tobring the edges of the scam within the said article, which consists inbending or turning the free edges thereof within the said article, asshown and described, and then uniting the said edges within the saidarticle while the material is right side out, substantially as hereindescribed.

2. That improvement in the art or method of producing boot-legs whichconsists in the following steps, viz: first crimping the front and thenclosing the seams to unite the front and back, as described, the lastside seam of the boot-leg, to bring it into tubular form, being madeinside the leg with the front and back right side out, wherebysubsequent turning of the bootleg and loss of crimp in the front isavoided. substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES A. AMBLER.

Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, ARTHUR REYNOLDS.

